There are a number of publications and patents which disclose methods of separating water soluble carbohydrates and other materials. British Pat. No. 731,335 discloses the separation of a mixture of at least two water soluble organic compounds each having an ionization constant of not more than 1.4 .times. 10.sup.-.sup.3. In this separation method, cation exchange resins which contain sulphonate radicals as the functional groups are utilized. U.S. Pat. No. 3,044,904 to Serbia and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,044,905 and 3,044,906 both to Lefevre, disclose the utilization of various salts of a nuclearly sulfonated styrene resin to separate dextrose and fructose. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,184,334 to Sargent the separation of dextran from fructose by the utilization of ion exchange resins in the salt form and acid-and salt-forms is disclosed and U.S. Pat. No. 3,483,031 to Lauer et al. teaches the separation of glucose and fructose by using an ion exchange resin charged with calcium ions.
There are a number of problems associated with the separation of various water soluble carbohydrates by the use of resins. Generally, large quantities of water are involved with such separations and, due to the dilution factors involved, removal of water to obtain the carbohydrates in a relatively pure and concentrated state requires high energy costs. Moreover, the equipment necessary to effect an efficient separation is generally quite complex and requires a number of holding tanks or similar devices and thereby entails a costly capital investment. Gross, Intl. Sugar J., Vol 73, p. 330 (1971), discloses a partial solution to this problem whereby holding tanks, used for storage of recycle liquid, are eliminated by the utilization of two columns of resins positioned in series. However, this process does not result in the desired degree of separation.